Monday, July 2, 2012

Happy Canada Day: Here's a Run Down on How Health Care Works "Up There"

Ezra Klein of the Washington Post devoted part of his blog on Canada Day to the current state of the Canadian Health Care system, a model that is less expensive then what is available generally in the USA, but also one that is more decentralized and run province-by-province than I imagined earlier.

It is not without some flaws, notable in waiting times to see a specialist. (One that is improving.) But bear in mind overall life expectancy rates are comparable and they pay out a lot less per capita with a four times less paperwork.

I think we could learn something from our neighbors to the north in how to provide care for all citizens. This would be care based not on privatized and for-profit systems but on taking care of citizens with the emphasis on real health security, not the nature of the company you own or work for being able to provide policies year to year. I have no quarrel with those who say market forces have their place in many ordinary consumer markets, but health care can be a matter life or death for those of ANY age!

18 comments:

Thanks for posting this interesting blog on Canadian health care which has its roots in the mother country I think. Whatever the shortcomings of public health systems (which are not static and can evolve and improve) in my view they are infinitely better than insurance based private systems. In other words Americans are being ripped off by insurance predators that constantly increases the cost of medical treatment in order to generate obscene profits in the healthcare and pharmaceutical corporate sector. There can be no moral justification for profiteering on the back of misery and misfortune, doctors who charge are charletans and shysters in my opinion, you cannot put a value on suffering, but can only deploy all of our collective resources to reduce it. There is no other sustainable moral argument....Canada's system is not perfect but it is a lot better than what presently exists in the US with Medicare funding due to go into the red sometime in the next 12 years.

What America needs is less overseas military bases soaking up tax dollars, less wars that have bankrupted the country and less bankrolled NATO warmaking that have destroyed the country's reputation. Then these programme's would be easily sustainable its up to Americans to choose...a vote for Romney equals a vote for death, destruction and complete social collapse, a vote for Obama equals pretty much the same thing, over a more permissive time scale in my view.

CNN's GPS, Fareed Zakaria had a program on tv last night about health care in other countries...Switzerland has one almost exactly like this "obamacare" that is in affect now. And those people have had it for almost 20 yrs and like it. No long lines and rooms are like in a hotel. Its working so why the fuss by all the Republicans? Each time they are asked what they will do, they hedge the question every time. Helping people that are sick is the number one priority and keeping costs down. Like Aaron says below...Insurance companies are ripping off people for their own bigger profits. I say get rid of all of them.

As Canada does not have the best health care system right now it's under review. I believe this is a blog with regards to a subject matter which lent itself to Canada Doug. I do appreciate it yet up above is where Canada's healthcare system came from and then a gent by the name of Tommy Douglas made a few changes. At that time in Canada's history the Canadian medical practices closed in revolt. Tommy Douglas later came from Saskatchewan and became Prime Minister and this is why the term has been so tied to Canada.What most don't know is that Canada has a two tier system of public and private with the exception of one province. Which is Saskatewan.

This was an article wrote pertaining to the time which Tommy Douglas, Doug. I thought you would find it interesting as it covers how his idea was taken back 23 years ago. This came out within the newspaper a couple of days ago.

Exactly AA! The obscene profittering of one "Big Pharma" company, Glaxo-Smith Kline, just cost them $3 billion in damages in the courts. The edifice of for-profit medicine is still standing but the foundation is being sapped.

There is no justifiable "other side" to this argument---health care is not a commodity! Just as the Corn Laws finally were revoked circa 1850 to stave off mass hunger and popular revolt, this present system in the USA needs to be radically modified. How and when it will happen I am not sure, but it no more sustainable than our military excursions abroad are a long-term strategy for anything other than penury at home and misery in places on the other end of the world.

Thanks for sharing that clip, Marty. Thank goodnes at least CNN hits this issue with people armed with facts and graphs and international comparisons and not just flag-waving tea party boosters. I hope every visitor to this blog takes a look at Zakeria's report on Taiwan and Switzerland.

Thanks for the extra background there, Jack. I really think right now in the immediate future at least a lot of the health care system will be reformed more on a state level, with an improved federal treshhold. Long term, I think the powers of private health companies are so much stronger than in otherparts of the world that it take some tim for them to be brought to smaller profits and more citizens being covered. But i'm more confident more Americans will be giving Canada's developments a second look via a vi health care.

Edmonton is the most northern city which nears a million with all suburbs which are encompassed around it. I enjoyed living there but I loved Calgary which is right next to the "shared" rockies. Moose Jaw is ironically a home for an Air Force Base and the home of the underground trails which were used by Al Capone. MJ is around 35,000 but I never knew why they came up with a name like this Doug. And then believe it or not there is a small town in Saskatchwan called Kandahar - I never got that at all.

Calgary is nice really nice. Moosejaw was the place where Capone's boys did go back and forth with to meet with the Pinder Family, Bronfman Family, and a few others. It was the gateway from Chicago to Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Kandahar is a town Doug in Saskatchwan when it came into inception I thought it was a training ground but I still don't know the history of it but you can google it as it does exist.

I never saw the Stampede but I had skied many times as well as went to the Olympics back in the 80's that was a time where Calgary really came on the map.